Stenodynerus

Most species utilize as nesting sites abandoned borings of other insects in twigs, stems or wood, or old mud-dauber nests. A few make burrows in soil for a nesting site; in at least one species a mud turret is constructed over the burrow entrance. Most species prey upon caterpillars, but two of the ground-nesting species use larvae of both Lepidoptera and Coleoptera.

Stenodynerus is a rather large genus of potter wasps whose distribution spans the Nearctic, Palearctic, Oriental and Neotropical regions. Most of its species lack a transverse carina on the first metasomal tergum. A pair of medial pits on the anterior face of the pronotum and the expansion of the tegulae put this genus close to genera as Parancistrocerus, Hypancistrocerus and Eustenancistrocerus.